The present invention relates to a photographic processing system in which photographic papers each subjected respectively to photographic printing exposure are distributed to a line or a plurality of lines and conveyed to a developing device so as to effectively carry out photographic processing.
When an image on a negative photographic film is exposed and printed on a photographic paper and the photographic paper is developed so as to provide a photographic print, there are two methods. One method is described as follows: a plurality of image frames are printed on a long size photographic paper; the images are developed; and then the plurality of image frames are individually cut off and discharged outside the apparatus. The other method is described as follows: a photographic paper is cut off to a print size; an image is exposed and printed on each photographic paper; and then each photographic paper is subjected to development processing. The former method is advantageous in the case where a large number of image frames of one size are continuously processed, however, when the operation is interrupted, a large amount of photographic paper is wasted which has been provided between the printing exposure section and the development processing section. Moreover, this method is not suitable when photographic papers of various sizes are processed. On the other hand, in the latter method, after a photographic paper has been pulled out from an accommodating section, it is cut into each printing size, and each photographic paper is independently exposed and developed. Therefore, all photographic paper on the process can be effectively utilized, and further this method is suitable when photographic papers of various sizes are processed. The present invention relates to the aforementioned latter method. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in photographic processing in which photographic papers that have been cut and exposed are effectively developed.
A printing-exposure operation is completed in several seconds or several tens of seconds. On the other hand, a developing processing operation requires several minutes. Consequently, when photographic papers are continuously processed, the feed speed of a printing device is high, and that of an automatic developing device is low. For that reason, the processing speed of the entire apparatus is determined by the processing speed of the automatic developing device. Accordingly, in order to improve the efficiency, the processing speed of the automatic developing device has been increased. Since development processing is carried out using chemical reactions, an increase of processing speed is limited. Therefore, it is required to increase the processing speed of the entire apparatus without increasing the developing speed.
The first object of the present invention is to break through the limitations of the conventional technique and to provide a system in which a series of printing and developing processing is quickly conducted.
However, as color photography has become popular and the demand for color photographic prints is increasing, predetermined sizes (service size, L-size and others) of prints are processed at high speed. Development has been conducted in order to quickly supply customers with color prints, that is, development has been conducted to realize what is called "simultaneous printing". On the other hand, the use of photography has been diversified, and the demand for a large size photographic print, which has been used only by professional photographers, has been increased. The sensitivity of photographic films has been improved, fine-grain photography has been achieved, and the photographic ability of cameras has been improved. Therefore, it has become possible for amateur photographers to use large size enlarged prints. In order to meet the demand for large size enlarged prints, printing and automatic developing devices are prepared which have a wide photographic paper passage to process large size prints.
Since the space in a laboratory is limited and it is necessary to increase the rate of operation of the apparatus in the laboratory, it should be avoided to provide an automatic developing device for photographic papers having a wide photographic paper passage in addition to a conventional automatic developing device having a narrow photographic paper passage. Accordingly, a small size of photographic paper is also processed by the automatic developing device having a wide photographic paper passage. However, when small size photographic papers are processed by the large size automatic developing device one by one, the efficiency is low. In order to solve the aforementioned problem, the following conventional measure has been taken: an automatic developing device is installed in a dark room; small size photographic papers that have already been exposed are conveyed into the dark room; and the photographic papers are manually arranged in the photographic paper passage of the developing device in such a manner that the entire width of the arranged photographic papers coincides with the width of the photographic paper passage of the developing device. The aforementioned manual operation can be practically carried out, however, the efficiency is not necessarily high.
The second object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problems and to provide a photographic distribution device by which a plurality of lines of small size photographic papers are conveyed into an automatic developing device for large size photographic papers.
Moreover, the present invention is related to a photographic material processing device provided with a conveyance means that conveys exposed, cut, sheet-shaped photographic papers to a sorter after development, wherein the sorter sorts the photographic papers for each order.
For convenience of handling, the length of a photographic film is restricted so that the outer diameter of the film magazine is made to be small. Accordingly, the number of frames is limited. In the case of a common 35 mm photographic film, the longest film is provided with 36 frames.
Recently, color photography has become popular, and there is an increasing demand for color photographic films and papers. For the convenience of users, service properties of color photographic films and papers have been improved, and the following laboratory system has been developed: When an exposed photographic film provided in a film magazine is set in an apparatus, the film is completely automatically developed, and the developed film inserted into a film case is discharged from the apparatus, and at the same time, the prints packed in a bag are also discharged from the apparatus.
There are two main types of this convenient photographic processing system. One is a mini-laboratory system. According to the mini-laboratory system, in accordance with the orders of individual customers, a relatively small amount of prints are handily processed in a shop. In this case, developing and printing operations are intermittently conducted for each order. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a particular control system. However, in this case, it is difficult to reduce the service cost.
The other is a large-scale laboratory system. In this system, the aforementioned complete automatic operation is realized, and a large amount of photographic films and papers are processed at high speed, so that the service cost can be reduced.
Important points in the large-scale laboratory system described above are how quickly and stably prints of high quality can be supplied without employing skilled workers. That is, to meet the demand of customers without making any errors and to complete an automatic system in which all operations from charging of films to packing of prints can be quickly carried out.
In the large-scale laboratory system, operations are carried out in the following manner:
After a photographic film has been exposed, the film accommodated in a film magazine is set in the apparatus. Then, the tongue of the film is pulled out from the film magazine. After that, a leader, which is a guide sheet for improving the conveyance properties of the film, is connected with the tip of the film, and the film is sent into a film automatic developing device so that the film is subjected to development processing. The rear end of the film is disconnected from the film magazine. The empty film magazine is discharged from the apparatus separately from the film. After the developing process, the film is dried, and then a plurality of films are connected with a splice tape so that a long film can be formed. Then the long film is supplied to a printing device. At this time, for the purpose of controlling the film according to its customer order, the order information is attached to the splice portion of the film. Separately, the order information is recorded by a recording means such as a magnetic tape in accordance with the connection of the long film. When the finished prints are distributed, this order information is effectively used.
When a large amount of orders are processed by the automatic photographic processing apparatus described above, the entire processing capacity is determined by the automatic developing device for photographic papers because its processing capacity is relatively low. For example, the processing time of an automatic developing device for photographic papers is several times longer than that of a printing device. Therefore, it is required to improve the processing capacity of the automatic developing device for photographic papers.
The third object of the present invention is to provide a photographic processing system in response to the needs, in which the capacity of the automatic developing device for photographic papers is improved, and the finished prints are quickly distributed and arranged in a required order.